Machine for dressing spokes



CII

`UNiTED sTATEs PATENT oEEicE.

R. P. BENToNoE RocHEsTER, NEw YORK.

MACHINE FOR DRESSING SPOKES.

l specification of Letters Patent No. 10,662, dated March 21, 1854.

To all whom t may concern Be it known that I, R. P. BENTON, of

Rochester, in the county of ,Monroe and4 Dressing and Forming Spokes; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full,

clear, and exact description thereof, ref-` erence being had to theaccompany1ng drawings, forming a part of thisA specication.

I am aware that O. vMather constructed a machine for dressing spokes by rotating cutters, which apparently producedthey desired result, but when subjected to a prac-v tical test has been found inoperative, arising I have no doubt from complexity of movement, number of cutters (there being not less than eight cutter heads required) and variety. in the shape of the bits used in those cutter heads. I also may here advert to the fact existing in his machine that the spoke must be secured between chucks or inandrels applied to the ends thereof, and it has been found in practice as a conse; quent that even, in stout short spokes they are liable to spring, but much more so in long and slender ones, such as used in sulkeys or trotting wagons where the spokes are near three feet long and veryslender.

In my first attempt in dressing spokes, I fell into the same error by'essaying to dress both sides simultaneously, and wfas con,- st-rained to adopt the present method of dressing only one side at a time and by plac ing the timber on a firm unyielding bed or carriage passing under the rotating cutters.-V

I now accomplish with a single pair of cut.- ter heads and one form alone of bit, every varietyv of configuration exhibited in the cross section ofl a spoke cut at different lengths; and do more than Mather or any one else, viz, cutting the flat of the spoke next the tenen, as well as the perfect oval at the end entering the felly; also forming the wrist or small portion near the tenon end, and the feather edge on the front of the spokes at that place. In this I differ from Mather as his vertical cutters forming the upper and lower sides of his spoke are mere gouges and consequently cannot dress the fiat thereof; his horizontal cutters of which there are four heads it is true have a side, or lateral adjustment, but the only effect thus produced is that of giving the taper to the spoke and rounding the ledge, as forforming the wrist I do `not see how 1t can'be effected in Mathers ymachine or the feather edge either by these cutters.

I' therefore thinkhis acomplicated inefficient machine; whereas mine is one ofthe.

greatest simplicity of construction (certainly not costingy more vthana tenthof the n price) and easily ofcomprehension both as regards construction and mode of operation; small in the number of cutter heads,

and only one pattern of bit, no matter what size of spoke. is to be dressed as 'I can dress those varying an inch ormore in the width of tenon and considerably varying in thickf nesswith the same bit. Y

To enable others skilled in the art to.

make and usemy improvement I will proceed to describe it. u In the drawing A Figure 1, is the frame;

`B `and C, uprights firmly fastened to A;

D, D', Ea frame o-f metal (or cross head) secured only at one end at a time to one of the uprights, being represented as attached to B by a pivot bolt'F, upon which it has a vertical play, the bolt F has a screw cut onr its end for enteringY the.4 upright and it is withdrawn after one side of thev spoke is finished, and shifted to, the opposite side pins or upright into I, when fin-v I, I and J, with bits K K K `K, these bits are so formed that in one line of their rotation, a plane shall be formed, and the continuation of the bit exhibit a concave line thus` l, of course the judgment must be exercised in the joining these lines as they determine the general character or shape of the spoke.

. In Fig. 2 a section of the shaft Gr', cutters &c. &c. is seen; L is the pulley for giving rotary motion to the shaft r'and cutters; the lateral movement is obtained by an, slides working on projecting arms from D D and E; V is a box connected with the slide and through which the short. shaft-'Q passes; W Fig. 2, is a steel feather enter-l sol `the hub Vor cutter heads, carrying the arms ing a groove in Q for sliding it laterally.; X X are arms projecting from the frame A and receive the pivot on which Y, an elbow lever is pivoted by a screw bolt 2 (see dotted line) at its angle, so as to allow of slight change of position. a is a pin in U and passes into the slot at the upper end, of e, the elbow lever communicating motion to the short shafts Q or R the lower end Y of the elbow lever enters the irregular formed groove c, d, in the carriage M on which the spoke timber is secured, and the pin rising4 and falling in the groove actuates the elbow lever and with it the shaft &c. drawing laterally the cutter head E thereon. b are upright pins in the frame A to steady the end of the elbow lever. Under the carriage-M M is placed a rack the end shown at P, and it is 'moved by a pinion` on the shaft ofpulley O, said carriage slides on ways N, uponY the edges of M will be noticed `slight vhollows or depressions at f, the object of which is to give the twist to the spoke by Itheir permitting the free end of E of the frame D-D to sink and with it the shaft, cutters &c.; when the spoke is turned over the pin or bolt F is changed to the opposite side into t-he hole i, and then the hollow f on the other side of the carriage comes in play.

The operation is as follows: A piece of suitable timber secured on the carriage M by small bench knives or other devices .at their ends, is moved under the rotating cutters driven rapidly by pulley L: it will be noticed that the cutters are expanded to their utmost by the end Y of elbow leverV M being in the highest part of the groove d and consequently no part ofthe bits, but the straight portion cuts the spoke, this forms t-he 'lat thereof at the tenen; now as the carriage moves along, the grooves sink and with them the ends of Y and necessarily contract the cutters toward each other, and thus form the first portions of the curved side, it is at this point that the free end E of the meta-l frame D D is permitted to 'sink in the bottom f. As one side of` said frame always rests on the edge of the carriage, thisu proaches a semi circle; and thus one side or half the spoke is formed; the carriage is drawn back, the pivot'bolt F, changed to the opposite hole z' (see-nV in Fig. l), the spoke turned over with the finished side down and againpasses under the cutters,

this shows the object of the groove f on both edges, as the feather edge at the wrist is nowreversed. In this manner difficulty of spring of the spoke timber is avoided, and a beautiful kand accurately dressed spoke produced, ready for cutting the tenon in another machine, and so smooth as not even to require the use of sand paper.

, l The above description applies to a single spoke but it will be understood in dressing a number, that the first side ofall required will be dressed and then thebolt F changed, and the other side operated on.

Having `thus obtained a mode of making 'a constantly varying cross section in the shape of the spoke, with a single pair of cutters in which is given a rotary, a lateral and an oscillating motion, and what I claim as my invention and desire to vsecure by Letters Patent is v rlhe arrangementproducing these different movements as described and set forth in the `foregoing` speciication, viz, the shafts G and Q, R, frame D, D, E carriage M with its grooves c, d, and f elbow lever Y, Z, slot F or their equivalents. i

In testimony whereof I have hereunto signed my name before two subscribing witnesses.

Y R.V l?. BENTON. lVitnesses:

JOHN F. CLARKE, SAML. Grunn. 

